Tall people at greater cancer risk

Taller people are more likely to get cancer, a study shows.

The results also suggest increases in the height of populations over the course of the 20th century might explain some of the changes in cancer incidence over timePhoto: ALAMY

7:00AM BST 21 Jul 2011

The likelihood of developing the disease rises 16 per cent for every extra four inches in height among women - and a similar pattern is also seen in men.

Although previous research has linked height with particular tumours - such as breast in women and testicular in men - new findings show the phenomenon is not restricted to any types of the disease.

Dr Jane Green, who led the research, said: "The fact that the link between height and cancer risk seems to be common to many different types of cancer in different people suggests there may be a basic common mechanism, perhaps acting early in peoples' lives, when they are growing.

"Of course people cannot change their height. And being taller has actually been linked to a lower risk of other conditions, such as heart disease."

Hormone levels related to childhood growth, and in turn to cancer risk in later life, could be behind the phenomenon.

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It was also suggested the link could simply be down to the fact that taller people have more cells in their bodies, and so a greater chance of developing cancerous cell changes.

Dr Green said: "One possible reason is fairly obvious - tall people have more cells so there is a greater chance that one of them could mutate.

"But being tall is also related to hormonal growth factors which leads to a higher turnover of cells and this is an interesting possibility.

"There is nothing we can do about our height but these findings may open the door to discovering how some cancers may develop."

She went on: "Although we carried out our study in women when we compared the results to previous ones involving both sexes we found a similar link between cancer and height in men.

"So there is no gender bias and the association seems to apply to a range of cancers - it's just most studies have been carried out on the more common ones like breast and colorectal."

Dr Green and colleagues, whose findings are published online in The Lancet Oncology, said previous studies have shown a link between height and cancer risk but their's extends the findings to more cancers and for women with differing lifestyles and economic backgrounds.

The results also suggest increases in the height of populations over the course of the 20th century might explain some of the changes in cancer incidence over time.

The height of European adults increased by about 1cm (0.39 inches) per decade during the twentieth century, and the study suggests that this may explain around 10-15 per cent of the rise in cancer cases seen over this period.

The researchers assessed the association between height and cancer among 97,000 cases identified from the Million Women Study which included 1.3 million middle-aged women in the UK enrolled between 1996 and 2001.

During an average follow-up time of about ten years the largest study of its kind found the risk rose in tandem with height and included at least ten types of the disease including breast, skin, bowel, leukaemia and ovarian - a wider range than initially thought.

The researchers who looked at women with heights ranging from under 155cm (5ft 1in) to 175cm (5ft 9in) and taller then compared their results with those from ten previous studies involving both men and women and found they were strikingly similar.

Dr Green said: "We showed the link between greater height and increased total cancer risk is similar across many different populations from Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North America."

Dr Andrew Renehan, of Manchester University, who reviewed the study for the journal, said: "In the future, researchers need to explore the predictive capacities of direct measures of nutrition, psychosocial stress and illness during childhood, rather than final adult height."

Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: "Tall people need not be alarmed by these results.

"Most people are not a lot taller (or shorter) than average, and their height will only have a small effect on their individual cancer risk.

"This study confirms the link between height and cancer paving the way for studies to help us understand why this is so.

"On average, people in the UK have a more than one in three chance of developing cancer in their lifetime. So it's important that everyone is aware of what is normal for their body and go see their doctor as quickly as possible if they notice any unusual changes.

"And while we can't control our height, there are many lifestyle choices people can make that we know have a greater impact on reducing the risk of cancer such as not smoking, moderating alcohol, keeping a healthy weight and being physically active."